Pivotally supported shoe tree unit



9 JQF. BATTERMAN 4 2,808,600

\ PIVOTALLY SUPPORTEDYSHOE TREE mm Filed March 2, 195 s INVENTOR. J4c08 F. BATTERMAIV AZTORNEY ilnite States Patent PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED SHOE TREE UNIT Jacob F. Batterman, Thomasville, Pa.

Application March 2, 1956, Serial No. 569,198

8 Claims. (Cl. 1253.6

This invention relates to improvements in a shoe tree unit and, more particularly, a shoe tree unit comprising a pair of shoe trees which are operable simultaneously to be disposed within and removed from a pair of shoes positioned for example upon a conventional shoe board or shelf.

For many years, individual shoe trees have been used for purposes of holding shoes in straightened and preferably somewhat stretched condition when not in use. However, when such shoe trees are idle and out of the shoes, they frequently become misplaced and clutter the bottom of a closet for example.

Other types of shoe tree units have been developed which include brackets or arms which support the shoe trees per se. However, most of these are complicated and require individual handling of the shoes for purposes of mounting the shoes upon the shoe tree units or vice versa, whereby such units have not been widely adopted for use.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a shoe tree unit in which preferably a pair of shoe trees per se, of unique design, are mounted for operation upon supporting means which simultaneously operate both the shoe trees per se when the shoe trees are being mounted within a pair of shoes as well as when the samerare being removed therefrom, and no handling of the shoes is required to effect placement of the shoe trees within the shoes or removing the same therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide shoe trees per se which comprise respectively toe and heel engaging members supported upon pivotally mounted arms and arm actuating mechanism automatically is operable to move the toe and heel engaging members away from each other when installing the shoe treeswithin a pair of shoes, and also eifect movement of the toe and heel engaging members toward each other, to inoperative positions, when the shoe trees are being removed from a pair of shoes.

Still another object of the invention is to provide simple and eifective lever-like means, one end of which is attachable to a fixed object such as a vertical wall of a closet, above a shoe board or shelf, and the movement of the outer end of the lever-like means serves to insert the shoe trees within a pair of shoes when the leverlike means is used in one direction, and remove the shoe trees from a pair of shoes when said lever-like means is moved inthe opposite direction about the pivot therefor. f

One further object of theinvention is to provide latch means which effectively hold the shoe trees per se in inoperative position above a shoe-board or shelf whereby, when a pair of shoes is placed upon said board or shelf directly below the inoperative shoe trees, said latch means quickly may be released and thereby permit the shoe trees to be inserted respectively in each of a pair of shoes and a simple downward movement of the shoe tree supporting means not only inserts the shoe trees stretched condition.

in the shoes but also releasably latches the toe and heel engaging members of each shoe treein extended and operative position within each shoe so as to maintain the shoes in desired shape and preferably under slightly One further object of the invention is to construct the entire mechanism out of rugged and durable material which may be easily formed into the required components, said components also being readily assembled so as to maintain the production costs of the unit at a minimum, yet affording easy operation of the unit and resulting in long life thereof.

s Details of the foregoing objects and of the invention, as well as other details thereof, are set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings comprising a part thereof.

In the drawing;

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an exemplary shoe tree unit embodying the principles of the present invention, said unit being illustrated herein as in engagement with a pair of shoes, one of the shoes being shown in full lines, and the other being shown in phantom for purposes of better illustrating the details of a shoe tree per se.

' Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the shoe tree units shown in Fig. 1, the pair of shoe trees per se of said unit being shown in operative position within an exemplary shoe.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the shoe trees per se and the operating and supporting mechanism thereof being retracted to inoperative position and latched in said position, this being the preferred position of the unit when the shoe trees thereof are removed from a pair of shoes.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation ina larger scale than used in Figs. 1 through 3, this figure showing certain details of-the arms which support the toe and heel engaging members of each shoe tree, one position of these members being shown in full lines, and other relative positions thereof being shown in broken lines.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly broken away, and illustrated on a larger scale than in Figs. 1 through 3, this figure illustrating details of the latch mechanism of the unit. a

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation, on a scale similar to that in Fig. 5, showing details of the rack and pinion gear mechanism for operating certain of the mechanism of the unit.

Referring to Fig. 1, the shoe tree unit 10 embodying the principles of the present invention is shown mounted upon an exemplary vertical Wall 12 of a closet for example, said closet or wall also having a conventional shoe board or shelf 14 mounted in a position to receive a pair of shoes 16, the board 14 having a conventional heel rail 18 thereon. While the shoes 16, as illustrated .in Fig. 1, are positioned with a space therebetween, it

will be understood that the width of the unit 10 can be made to any desired dimension, whereby, if preferred, substantially no space will be left between the shoes of the pair 16.

The shoe tree unit 10 comprises lever-like means, in the preferred embodiment thereof, consisting of a pair of levers 20v and 22, one end of each of these levers screws 26. 1 a -The'lever 20, in the embodiment illustrated ,her'ein,is 7 "formed from two'pieces of strap metal which are respectively bent to provide oppositely extending cars 28, the outer ends of said ears being fixed by welding or any other suitable manner to a tubular bearing member 30 which comprises part of laterally projecting means whieh also includes a shaft or rod 32 which, atits outer ends, extends beyond the outer ends of the tubular member 30.

Also extending transversely to the tubular member 3%) area pair of bracket arms 34 which are fixed thereto by welding or otherwise, the upper ends of which support pintles which extend in parallelism to tubular member 30 and may comprise for example threaded bolts or screws 36 which extend into suitable sockets formed in the upper ends of the bracket arms 34 as is clearly shown in the drawing.

The pintles 36 support one end of a generally curved arm 38 which, intermediately the ends thereof, has a curved projection 40 for purposes to be described. The outer or free end of the arm 38 has fixed thereto a heel engaging member 42 which, together with the toe engaging member 44 comprises a shoe tree per se.

In the preferred construction of the invention, a pair ofsuch shoe trees per so are included in the unit 10. The heel and toe engaging members 42 and 44 may be formed of any preferred material such as wood, synthetic resin, or stamped and preferably suitably coated metal so as to "render the same non-rusting or non-corroding.

Each of the toe engaging members 44 are pivotally, connectedto one end of additional arms 46 and the opposite end portion of each of the arms 46 is fixed preferably in a keyed manner to the outer ends of the shaft 32. The extreme outer ends of the arms 46 opposite those ends which are pivotally connected to the toe engaging members 44 comprise cams 48 for purposes to be described. It will thus be seen that the arms 46 also are pivotally supported by the lever-like means and, specifically, by the tubular member 30. i

The lever 22 may either have connected to the outer end thereof or itself be formed to provide a rack 50, shownin enlarged detail in Fig. 6. Slidable longitudinally upon the outer end of lever 22 is a sleeve 52 which may be of complementary cross-sectional shape to the lever 22 and particularly the rack 50 on the outer end thereof. Depending from sleeve 52 is a pair of cars 54 which are apertured to receive the shaft 32 rotatably. Disposed between said pair of cars 54 and keyed to shaft 32 is a pinion gear 56, best illustrated in Fig. 6. Said pinion gear meshes with the teeth of rack 50.

When the lever-like means comprising levers 20 and 22 are mounted in the inoperative position illustrated in Fig. 3, and in which position they may releasably be held by a suitable pivotedlatch 58, the claw end of which engages adjustably one ofa series of locking notches 60. The arms 46 will be held by the rack 50 and pinion 56 in the position thereof illustrated in Fig. 3. In this position, the toe engaging members 44 will be in the retracted or inoperative position thereof and the moving of the arms 46 and members 44 to said position from the position thereof shown in Fig. 2 will automatically move the arms 38 and heel engaging members 42 to the inoperative position thereof illustrated also in Fig. 3. The latch 58 will hold the unit assembly 10 in said inoperative position shown in Fig. 3 until it is desired to insert the shoe trees per se of the unit within a pair of shoes 16.

From the above description, it will be seen that when the unit 10 is disposed in the inoperative position shown in Fig. 3, the shoe trees per se thereof will be mounted and positioned in retracted fashion where they are ready for instant insertion into a pair of shoes but nevertheless leave the fioor of the closet forv example uncluttered and in condition for ready cleaning, dusting, and the like. Due to the force of gravity, the normal tendencyfor the levers 20 and 22 is to move downwardly and, under these conditions, the tendency of the lever 22 is to move to the right relative to the sleeve 52 as viewed in Fig. due to the fact that the pivot on upper clevis 24 for lever 22 is higher than the pivot for lever 20 on lower clevis 24. Hence, the claw on the right-hand end of the latch 58 is shaped readily to resist such movement. However, a mere depression of the outer end of the latch readily permits the lever-like assembly comprising the levers 20 and 22 to be moved from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 2, thereby automatically and simultaneously inserting both shoe trees per se respectively in the shoes of the pair 16. Such downward movement of the outer ends of the levers 2t) and 22 causes clockwise rotation of pinion gear 56, thereby similarly rotating levers 46 clockwise, not only lowering the toe engaging members 44 of the shoe trees but also projecting them forwardly in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 3. Such lowering movement of the members 44 permits the arms 38 and heel engaging members 42 thereon to move downwardly by gravity until such time as the cams 48 on the outer ends of arms 46 engage the undersurfaces of arms 38 to cause relative separating movement of the lower or outer ends of the arms 38 and 46, as shown in Fig. 2.

Further, the final positioning of the heel and toe engaging members 42 and 44 within the heels and toes respectively of the pair of shoes 16 is such that the final movement causes the earns 48 to ride over the curved projection 40 on the arms 38 and, in effect, he releasably locked against the undersurface of said projection as shown in enlarged manner in Fig. 4, in broken lines. To facilitate such latching, the arms 38 preferably are made of suitably resilient material such as spring steel or the like, the resilient nature of said arms thereby permitting a snap action of the cams 48 past the curved projection 40 and against the undersurface thereof. No additional latching means are necessary in the preferred embodiment of the invention for purposes of holding said shoe trees. per se in the operative and shoe stretching position thereof shown in Fig. 2. Such operative position is also illustrated in front elevation in Fig. 1.

When itis desired to use the pair of shoes being held in preferably stretched condition in Figs. 1 and 2, it is only necessary to engage the outer ends of the sleeve 52 and elevate the same to the position shown in Fig. 3, the latch 58 automatically becoming activated to hold the unit 10 in said elevated and inoperative position. The pair of shoes 16 then are free to be removed from the shoe board 14.

As, is conventional in certain types of shoe trees, it is necessary to provide means by which the shoe trees may be adjusted to permit difierent distances to be provided between the toe and heel engaging members of the shoe tree. This is forpurposes of accommodating a single pair of shoe trees to shoes of a substantial range of difter'ent sizes. Accordingly, the toe engaging members 44 for example, may be provided with an interior recess 62 for purposes of receiving the free outer end of one of the arms 46. The members 44 may be connected for example to said outer ends of the arms 46 by means of a readily removable pin 64. Said pin for example may be inserted transversely through any one of a series of transverse apertures 66 extending through the members 44. It will be understood of course that any other suitable'adjustment providing means may be used in lieu of that specifically illustrated.

While the invention has. been shown and illustrated in its preferred embodiment, and has included certain details, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways'f'alling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim: r

1. A shoe treeunit comprising in combination, toe and he l en a in member a P r f firms each pivotally pported adjacent one end and respectively supporting said members, lever-like means arranged to be supported at one end upon fixed means and movable at the outer end thereof between two principal positions, means interconnecting said lever-like means and pair of arms, and cam means on the other end of one arm movably engageable with the other arm and operable when the lever-like means is moved toward one of said positions to permit movement of said one end of said arms andsai-d toe and heel engaging members toward each other to inoperative positions and when said lever-like means is moved toward said other position thereof to move said one end of said arm apart to project each toe and heel engaging members respectively into the interior of the toe and heel portions of a shoe to stretch the same when mounted therein.

2. A shoe tree unit comprising in combination, toe and heel engaging members, a pair of arms, means supporting each of said arms pivotally adjacent one end, the opposite ends of said arms respectively being connected to said toe and heel engaging members to support the same, leverlike means arranged to be supported at one end upon fixed means and movable at the outer end thereof between two principal positions, means interconnecting said lever-like means and arms, and arm actuating means operable when the lever-like means is moved toward one of said positions to move one of said arms in one pivotal direction, said arm having a portion engageable with the other arm during such movement and causing said opposite ends of said other arm to move away from said opposite end of said one arm and thereby move said toe and heel engaging members away from each other and respectively into the interior of the toe and heel portions of a shoe to stretch the same when said members are mounted therein, said toe and heel engaging members being retracted toward each other to inoperative positions and when said leverlike means is moved toward said other position thereof.

3. The shoe tree unit set forth in claim 2 further characterized by said arm actuating means comprising a rack and pinion gear interengaging each other and said gear being interconnected to one of said arms and operable upon movement of said lever-like means to move said one arm and cause movement of the other arm and members carried by said arms as aforesaid.

4. The shoe tree unit set forth in claim 3 further characterized by said lever-like means comprising a plurality of levers respectively pivotally supported at one end in vertically spaced positions upon fixed means, one of said levers rotatably supporting said pinion gear and the other lever carrying said rack, whereby movement of the outer ends of said levers cause longitudinal displacement therebetween and causes said rack to rotate said pinion gear.

5. A shoe tree support comprising in combination, toe and heel engaging members, a pair of arms, means supporting each of said arms pivotally adjacent one end, the opposite ends of said arms respectively being connected to said toe and heel engaging members to support the same, lever-like means arranged to be supported at one end upon fixed means and movable at its outer end between two principal positions, means interconnecting said leverlike means and arms supporting said members, and arm operating means comprising interengaging rack and pinion means carried by said lever-like means and operable when the lever-like means is moved toward one of said positions to move one of said arms pivotally in one direction and said arm having a cam on one end engageable with the other arm during such movement and causing said opposite end of said other arm to move away from said opposite end of said one arm and thereby move said toe and heel engaging members away from each other and respectively into the interior of the toe and heel portions of a shoe to stretch the same when said members are mounted therein, said toe and heel engaging members being retracted toward each other to inoperative positions when said lever-like means is moved toward said other positions thereof.

6. A shoe tree unit comprising in combination, two

pairs of members, the members of each pair respectively comprising toe and heel engaging members, lever-like means arranged to be pivotally supported at one end upon fixed means and movable at its outer end between two principal positions relative tojsaid means, laterally projecting means extending transversely to said lever-like means and projecting from opposite sides thereof, said projecting means comprising a tubular bearing member carried by said lever-like means and a shaft rotatably mounted within said bearing member and projecting at its ends beyond the ends of said member, pairs of arms connected respectively at one end of each to said pairs of toe and heel engaging members and the otherend portion of each arm being pivotally supported by said laterally projecting means, and interengaging rack and pinion means interconnected to said laterally projecting means and operable when the lever-like means is moved toward one of said positions to efiect retraction of said pairs of toe and heel engaging members respectively toward each other to inoperative positions and when said lever-like means is moved toward said other position thereof to effect movement of said pairs of toe and heel engaging members respectively away from each other and into the interior of the toe and heel portions of a pair of shoes to engage and stretch the same simultaneously when mounted therein.

7. A shoe tree unit comprising in combination, two pairs of members, the members of each pair respectively comprising toe and heel engaging members, lever-like means arranged to be pivotally supported at one end upon fixed means and movable at its outer end between two principal positions relative to said means, laterally projecting means extending transversely to said lever-like means and projecting from opposite sides thereof, said projecting means comprising a tubular bearing member carried by said lever-like means and a shaft rotatably mounted within said bearing member and projecting at its ends beyond the ends of said member, pairs of arms connected respectively to said pairs of toe and heel engaging members and one arm of each pair being fixed to the opposite ends of said shaft and pivotally movable thereby, bracket means carried by said bearing member adjacent opposite ends thereof, the other arm of each pair being pivotally supported respectively by said bracket means, a cam carried by said one arm of each pair and engageable with the other arm of each pair when the lever-like means is moved toward one of said positions to move said pairs of toe and heel engaging members respectively away from each other and into the interior of the toe and heel portions of a pair of shoes to engage and stretch the same simultaneously when mounted therein, said pairs of toe and heel engaging members moving respectively toward each other to inoperative positions and when said lever-like means is moved toward said other position thereof, and interengaging rack and pinion means interconnected to said shaft and lever-like means and operable to move said arms and members as aforesaid.

8. A shoe tree unit comprising in combination, two pairs of members, the members of each pair respectively comprising toe and heel engaging members, a pair of levers arranged to be pivotally supported respectively at one end upon fixed means at vertically spaced positions and the outer ends thereof being movable between two principal positions, interconnecting means projecting laterally from opposite sides of said levers, pairs of arms connected respectively to said pairs of toe and heel engaging members and supported by said laterally projecting interconnecting means, means operable when the levers are moved toward one of said positions to retract said pairs of toe and heel engaging members respectively toward each other to inoperative positions and when said levers are moved toward said other position thereof to move said pairs of toe and heel engaging members respectively away from each other and into the interior of the toe and heel portions of a pair of shoes to engage and stretch the same simultaneously when mounted therein, and latch means carried by said pair of levers and releasably interengaging the same to hold said levers in said position in which said arms and members carried thereby are in said inoperative positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Mar. 12, 1953 

